Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Do you like licorice? I do. I love it. But it seems like most people either love or hate its flavor. Now I'm not talking about red licorice; I'm talking about black licorice, fennel, absintheand anise, to name a few. This isn't a flavor profile that people have lukewarm feelings about, but, since both the Boy and I love it, I picked up some aniseedat Dean & Deluca. Once we got home, I set aboutmaking a cookie with this delicious flavoring.Unfortunately, though, all the aniseedcookie recipes I was able to find where for biscotti--the one kind of cookie the Boy dislikes! Well, since I prefer soft cookies as well, I decided to just adapt my standard cookie recipe, adding aniseedand doubling the vanilla extract. Because, you see, I didn't just want anise cookies; I wanted vanilla-anise cookies.So, you ask, how did these goodies come out? Well, they were good, but they mostly tasted like sugar cookies. The anise flavor only came out when you bit directly into an aniseedand the vanillawas no more discernible than usual. So what will I do next time? I'm planning to grind the aniseed before mixing it with the dry ingredients and doubling the amount. I'll also try doubling the vanilla extractagain. Any other suggestions? I'm all ears.Biscuits d'anise et de vanille

Preheat oven to 375 F. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, soda and salt until well combined. In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar and vanilla until creamy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add dry ingredients a little at a time until completely combined. Stir in aniseed. Drop rounded teaspoons of batter onto an aluminum foil-covered cookie sheet. (This was the perfect chance for me to break in my new Vollrath cookie sheetand it performed beautifully.) Bake 8-10 minutes, until a toothpick comes out dry. Enjoy!